Security guards, and store employees should know the law

Friday, January 11, 2013

It appears the lack of common sense being displayed by some legislators in Washington has filtered its way down to uniform wearing personnel in Delaware.

On Saturday, three women who were breastfeeding their children at the Concord Mall were accosted by security guards who told them, erroneously, that such conduct was not permitted at the mall. The women were harranged until a Delaware state trooper who was at the mall on other business intervened and calmed the matter down.

The women were participating in a nationwide “nurse-in” to raise awareness of a recent incident at a Houston mall where a clothing store manager reportedly told a mother she was not permitted to nurse her 7-month-old child on store property. The law in Delaware states otherwise.

Since then, the management at Concord Mall has acted appropriately, sanctioning the guards who were not aware of the law or the mall’s policy and apologizing for the incident. That seems to us proper.

The issue of breastfeeding is one that is deeply personal to those who believe strongly that it is a natural and perfectly normal way of nourishing their children, both physically and emotionally. We do not weigh in on any debate of that here, except to say that it is always wise for those who are in a position of authority, such as security guards, that they understand what is and is not permitted by state law.

In Pennsylvania, for example, there is a law that states explicitly that breastfeeding “may not be considered a nuisance, obscenity or indecent exposure under this law.” There apparently were complaints at the Concord Mall that the women were “exposing” themselves, which was not the case.

“The Concord Mall has never had an issue with any mother breastfeeding her children in the mall and intends to fully comply with the law permitting this activity, a mall spokesman there said in a statement. “We apologize to our customers and tenants and the protesters for any inconvenience this situation may have caused. The Concord Mall is making every effort to properly train all officers regarding a mother’s right to breastfeed her child.”

The nationwide nurse-in drew hundreds of breastfeeding women to several locations around the country Saturday. The stores sells trendy Southern California-themed clothing and accessories. We would hope that the owners of those stores would make the law plainly clear to their employees, and that those employees would find more productive uses of their time than trying to halt people from making choices about their children.